TWO CLASSIC GERMAN FRITZ LANG DR MABUSE FILMS ON DVD

One of the legendary epics of the silent cinema — and the first part of a
trilogy that Fritz Lang developed up to the very end of his career —
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. [Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler.] is a masterpiece of
conspiracy that, even as it precedes the mind-blowing Spione from the
close of Lang’s silent cycle, constructs its own dark labyrinth from the
base materials of human fear and paranoia.

Rudolf Klein-Rogge plays Dr. Mabuse, the criminal mastermind whose
nefarious machinations provide the cover for — or describe the result of
— the economic upheaval and social bacchanalia at the heart of
Weimar-era Berlin. Initiated with the arch-villain’s diabolical
manipulation of the stock-market, and passing through a series of
dramatic events based around hypnotism, charlatanism, hallucinations,
Chinese incantations, cold-blooded murder, opiate narcosis and cocaine
anxiety, Lang’s film maintains an unrelenting power all the way to the
final act… which culminates in the terrifying question: “WHERE IS
MABUSE?!”

A bridge between Feuillade’s somnambulistic serial-films and modern
media-narratives of elusive robber-barons, Lang’s two-part classic set
the template for the director’s greatest works: social commentary as
superpsychology, poised at the brink of combustion. The Masters of
Cinema Series is proud to present Lang’s early masterpiece in its
fully-restored version on Blu-ray in 1080p for the first time ever.

With the etching onto glass of a single word – “MABUSE” – Berlin
reawakens into a nightmare. Fritz Lang’s electrifying Das Testament des
Dr. Mabuse [The Testament of Dr. Mabuse] is the astonishing second
instalment in the German master’s legendary Mabuse series, a film that
puts image and sound into an hypnotic arrangement unlike anything seen
or heard in the cinema before – or since.

It’s been eleven years since the downfall of arch-criminal and
master-of-disguise Dr. Mabuse (Rudolf Klein-Rogge), now sequestered in
an asylum under the watchful eye of one Professor Baum (Oskar Beregi).
Mabuse exists in a state of “catatonic graphomania”, his only action the
irrepressible scribbling of blueprints that would realise a seemingly
theoretical “Empire of Crime”. But when a series of violent events
courses through the city, police and populace alike start asking
themselves with increasing panic: “Who is behind all this?!” The answer
borders on the realm of the impossible…

Not only a follow-up to Lang’s earlier Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler. [Dr.
Mabuse: The Gambler.], but also, with the presence of Otto Wernicke’s
Police Commissioner Lohmann, a semi-sequel to Lang’s immortal
masterpiece M, Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse is itself considered by many
to be Lang’s greatest achievement – a work of terrible and practically
supernatural power that seems to have prophesied the implications of the
Nazi scourge. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Das
Testament des Dr. Mabuse for the very first time on Blu-ray, in a Dual
Format (Blu-ray + DVD) edition.

DUAL FORMAT (BLU-RAY + DVD) EDITION

• HD transfer of the film presented in its original aspect ratio, in 1080p on the Blu-ray

• Newly translated optional English subtitles

• Feature-length audio commentary by film scholar and Fritz Lang expert David Kalat